The Future Of Medicine: Regenerative Medicine

All of us must have encountered the lizard crawling to the wall without

having a tail in our day to day life but they do regenerate their tail within a

span of 60 days. Alike the lizards, regeneration is the built-in potential in

complex mammals; it occurs in a restricted manner. A small incision to the

skin repairs itself, broken bones mend itself in its own way, after

detoxifying millions of concoctions the liver regenerates itself by

exploiting the hepatic stem cells. What would happen if scientists seize

this naturally occurring ability to heal the body for the sake of mankind?

Then the chronic diseases like arthritis, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, heart

diseases, stroke, diabetes, osteoarthritis can be cured permanently. This

can be possible with the next-generation technologies and the new

developing field of biology- Regenerative Medicine.

"The dawn of iron and steel marked the beginning of industrial revolution, like the microchip to the tech revolution, stem cells will be the means to propulsion in the field of medicine - Regenerative Medicine."

Regenerative Medicine, as the term explains, is the process of replacing

or "regenerating" human cells, tissues or organs to restore or establish

normal function. This may enable the scientists to grow tissues and organs

in the laboratory when the body is unable to heal itself. This emerging

field of science encompasses cell therapy, immunomodulation therapy and

tissue engineering. Stem cells behave as staple for this purpose.

Stem cells are the totipotent cells from which all other cells with

specialized functions are generated. Under the right conditions, in the body

or in the laboratory stem cells can be specialized to grow into new tissue

for use in transplant.

Since tissue engineering and regenerative medicine emerged as an industry

about two decades ago, a number of therapies have been approved by FDA

and it is commercially available in the market but it is not accessible to the

common person.

A number of therapies are getting explored and are at the preclinical and

clinical trials stage. Some of the trials have become successful, the world's first

laboratory grown bladder in 1999 by Dr. Atala and his team successfully

implanted it. He also received the 2022 Jacobson Innovation Award of the

American College of Surgeons for his pioneering work in regenerative

medicine. According to his theory every cell within the human body must

be capable of regeneration.

With this approaching two decades the regenerative medicine will be at its

peak. It is not mere hope, rather it is the future, Future of medicine-

Regenerative Medicine.